Level

Penguin Young Readers Factsheets

1 Colors Teachers Notes

Summary of the story

Colors covers ten colors and introduces color vocabulary. Two children mix
paints, and in The Rainbow another pair go for a walk in the country before
making a rainbow of their own. There are photos of every day things, such as
birds and apples, hair and eyes, and funny photos of a green bear and a
purple sheep. In The Monster a boy becomes a multi-colored monster
through the eyes of two small mice.

About the author

Margaret Lo is a contemporary writer and teacher of long-standing.

Topics and themes

Animals appear several times in Colors. The
pupils can link names of animals and colors.
Some animals change color in different times of
the year. The young of some animals are
different colors too.
Buildings In The Rainbow, a house is blue.
What colors are houses, schools etc?
Colors On the first page of the Reader, there is
a lists the colors without names. After studying
the Reader, the pupils will have learned the
names of the colors in English, by reading about
rainbows, animals, food.
The Country The story on page 6 takes place
in the country. Ask What colors are
trees/mountains? for example.
Food In the story, The Monster, the monster
enjoys yellow food. What colors are different
foods?
Monsters The monster of the story is not really
a monster but a boy who appears to be a
monster from the perspective of the two mice.
Senses Sight is the predominant theme of the
book. How do the pupils feel about different
colors? Are some sad, happy, pretty etc.

Making use of the Reader

Survey Pre-prepare survey sheets for the whole
class. The survey should take the form of simple
headings such as brown eyes, brown hair etc.
The pupils go around the classroom, filling in
names beneath the headings.
Rainbow As a lighthearted warm-up, give each
of the pupils a color and ask them to line up in
the order of the colors of the rainbow.
Memory game Prepare small squares of card
in lots of different colors, enough for each group
of pupils to have a complete game. Make sure
remember where two of the same colors appear
and name the color, can they turn over both
cards and remove them from the game. The first
group to finish the game is the winner.
Quick color game Prepare lots of small pieces
of colored card. Put them in a bag and mix. Let
each pupil pick a card from the bag.
If they can name the color of their card, they
keep it. The one with the most cards at the
end wins.
Recipe: Make up menus using color as a theme:
Colors

each color appears twice. Put the cards face-side
down on the table. Divide the pupils into small
groups or pairs and ensure that each group has
its own memory game. The pupils take turns at
turning over one card at a time and saying the
name of the color in English. Only if they can
a green salad, or a salad with red and green
items etc. What fruit would make a yellow fruit
salad? Can the pupils think of a meal that would
be horrible to eat because of its color? Which
colors would they not like to eat?
Level 1

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 Level
Penguin Young Readers Factsheets
1 Colors Teachers Notes

Using the accompanying audio cassette

During listening By stopping the audio cassette at strategic points, you can encourage pupils to
interact with the listening process. Stop the cassette just after, for example, A purple sheep? and
ask the pupils to respond to the question. Similarly, if reading and listening occur simultaneously,
the pupils can anticipate the cassette whilst also practicing reading aloud.
Pair the pupils off. Give each pair a color. When they hear their color, the pair change places
with each other. Whilst listening to the monster story, pupils can wave their arms, point to their
eyes, as the parts of the body come up.

Chants Chant 1 Chant 3

The language in each chant recycles Here are some yellow apples Oooh, theres a monster
language from the Reader, so it is best to Im hungry Orange hair, blue eyes
Oooh, theres a monster
do activities with the chants after pupils Here are some green apples Green arms, yellow body
Theyre big
have read the book. Oooh, theres a monster
Here are some red apples What big feet!
pupils listen to the chant on cassette My favorite Is he a monster?
one or two times, clapping their Yes he is! Yes he is!
Can I have one please?
hands or tapping their desks in time Thank you - its good!
with the rhythm
Chant 2
pupils then say the chant, verse by
I can see a red car
verse, together with the cassette, I can see an orange hat
beating the rhythm as they speak, I can see yellow flowers
until they are familiar with the words I can see a blue house
and the rhythm Oh no, its raining!
you can them split the class into 2 or Look! Theres a rainbow
Red, orange, yellow, blue
3 groups and each group can say
one verse of the chant in turn
Answers to the activities
Notes on the activities in In the back of the Reader
the Factsheet 1. a. purple, b. gray, c. green, d. yellow,
e. orange, f. blue.
Activity 1 is a coloring by numbers 2. Page 5, Yes. Page 6, No, Page 9, Yes.
exercise.
In the Factsheet
Activity 2 is a word search.
Activity 2
Activity 3 is a drawing and coloring
exercise, designed to check
B R O W N G B P
comprehension of vocabulary.
Encourage imaginative drawings. The L E D E Z H L U
rainbow can be of any color in any U D W Z F J A R
order, and can also be striped, have
E Q S X M L C P
stars on or spots of another color.
G R E E N O K L
Activity 4 is a labeling exercise.
L O X C V D F E
Level 1

O R A N G E F G

Y E L L O W E R

Activity 4
Colors

Red car, orange hat, yellow flowers,

green trees, blue house.

Pearson Education Limited 2001. Visit our website at www.penguinreaders.com

 Level
Penguin Young Readers Factsheets
1 PHOTOCOPIABLE
Pupils Activities
Colors
Name.............................................................................................................
Activity 1
Color the picture.
Use these colors:

1. Orange 5
2. Red 4
3. Yellow 3 4
4. Green 3 3 3
3
5. Blue
3
3
3 2
2

1 1
4
1
1

Activity 2
Find these words in the box:
B R O W N G B P
red,
L E D E Z H L U
yellow,
U D W Z F J A R
blue,
E Q S X M L C P
purple,
G R E E N O K L
orange,

green, L O X C V D F E
Colors

brown, O R A N G E F G

black. Y E L L O W E R
Level 1

Pearson Education Limited 2001. Visit our website at www.penguinreaders.com

 Penguin Young Readers Factsheets
Level
1 PHOTOCOPIABLE
Pupils Activities

Colors
Name.............................................................................................................
Activity 3
Make a funny rainbow. Use ten different colors. Tell the teacher what the
colors are.

Activity 4
Color in a yellow flower, a red house, green hat, blue car, orange tree. Write in the spaces.
Level 1
Colors

Pearson Education Limited 2001. Visit our website at www.penguinreaders.com